Just in time for International Tiger Day (29 July), actor and fashion icon Sahil Salathia – who stars in the new horror series Adhura on Amazon Prime – is showing his stripes by putting himself in the place of an imprisoned tiger in a new campaign from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India that calls attention to the suffering of big cats caged in zoos and encourages people to “Say NO to Cages” and “Let Wild Animals Be Free”. The eye-catching image was shot by leading photographer Rohit Gupta, and the bodypaint was done by Nahush Pise. Sahil’s hairstyling was done by Shahrukh Siddquei and styling by Mohit Rai.
“Animals inside zoos often become so frustrated and depressed that they endlessly pace, circle, or sway,” says Salathia. “By teaming up with my friends at PETA India, I hope to encourage people to avoid any activity where an animal is confined to a cage.”
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Lions and other big cats have 18,000 times less space in zoos than in nature, and that figure rises to 1 million times less space for captive polar bears. PETA India’s extensive investigations into zoos across India have found appalling neglect, decrepit facilities, and animal suffering on a massive scale. PETA India recommends that zoos be transitioned into botanical gardens and repurposed to house only rescued animals.
Salathia joins a growing list of celebrities – including actors John Abraham and Rahul Khanna; musicians Anoushka Shankar, Raghu Dixit, Gaurav Vaz, and Parth Chandiramani; and cricketers Wayne Parnell and Pragyan Ojha – who have teamed up with PETA India to speak out against the caging of animals.
PETA India – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment” – opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview.
